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Failing

Chloelox

Chloelox

Well-Known Member
Messages
133
Location
North Wales
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I just need somewhere to vent because I feel like I’m not being heard.

I had a pretty poor HBA1C last year, came in at 6.5 after having a year of being below 6, I managed to get it back down to 6.1, then it’s shot back up to 7 in the past couple of months.

I feel like I’m failing, I’m changing my insulin dosage so frequently that I just don’t know how to control it anymore. I’m completely out of control and starting to get tingling sensations often in my hands and feet as well as feeling up and down mood wise thanks to the rollercoaster blood sugars.

I’m at a complete loss because I’m not receiving much advice from my team, they keep telling me to inject an extra unit or 2 and increase basal but then I end up hypo, then I decrease and end up high for 24 hours..

I’m under a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety in my personal life and I feel like the out of control blood glucose is adding to it.

I don’t really know the purpose of this post, I guess I want to see if others have had similar experiences and can tell me that it will level out eventually.. or if I’m going to be like this forever I’m eating 80 carbs a day and currently taking 10 units basal and 5 units for meals with a correction dose of 2 units maybe 3/4 times a day to stay below 13..
 
Chloelox said:
I had a pretty poor HBA1C last year, came in at 6.5 after having a year of being below 6, I managed to get it back down to 6.1, then it’s shot back up to 7 in the past couple of months.
Click to expand...

Well, firstly, none of those figures are bad. I've had T1 for 51 years and I was always extremely happy when I could get my levels down to 7 or below.

I'm guessing that you are still honeymooning? If so, you can expect your insulin needs to change as the honeymoon ends, so it isn't surprising that your levels are a bit wobbly.

Chloelox said:
I’m under a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety in my personal life and I feel like the out of control blood glucose is adding to it.
Click to expand...
Or it could be that the stress is causing the extra difficulty in keeping control of your levels, as stress is notorious at pushing levels up.

And sometimes your levels go crazy for no obvious reason. Try not worry too much, things will improve. I assume you've checked obvious stuff like your insulin going off. (eg I find my lantus can sometimes get a bit iffy after a couple of weeks on a cartridge and changing the cartridge can magically bring my levels down...)

Chloelox said:
with a correction dose of 2 units maybe 3/4 times a day to stay below 13..
Click to expand...
That seems like a large correction dose for someone on only 25 units a day. Do you have a correction dose ratio calculated by your team? eg 1 unit of insulin brings you down by 3mmol/L ? (Everyone's ratio varies, so that is just an example).

Honestly, hypos are the worst part of T1 for me, so I feel your frustration with frequent hypos and hypers. My recommendation would be to try to be easier on yourself (I know, easy to say) and concentrate on getting your basal right before working on your bolus.

Chloelox said:
I’m completely out of control and starting to get tingling sensations often in my hands and feet
Click to expand...
I'd be very very surprised if you were getting any diabetic complications after less than a year of T1 and with hba1cs as low as yours. Don't assume that every symptom is related to diabetes. Ask your doctor if you are worried, it could be something as simple as a vitamin deficiciency.

Anyway, lots of virtual hugs. Things will improve.
 
EllieM said:
Well, firstly, none of those figures are bad. I've had T1 for 51 years and I was always extremely happy when I could get my levels down to 7 or below.

I'm guessing that you are still honeymooning? If so, you can expect your insulin needs to change as the honeymoon ends, so it isn't surprising that your levels are a bit wobbly.


Or it could be that the stress is causing the extra difficulty in keeping control of your levels, as stress is notorious at pushing levels up.

And sometimes your levels go crazy for no obvious reason. Try not worry too much, things will improve. I assume you've checked obvious stuff like your insulin going off. (eg I find my lantus can sometimes get a bit iffy after a couple of weeks on a cartridge and changing the cartridge can magically bring my levels down...)


That seems like a large correction dose for someone on only 25 units a day. Do you have a correction dose ratio calculated by your team? eg 1 unit of insulin brings you down by 3mmol/L ? (Everyone's ratio varies, so that is just an example).

Honestly, hypos are the worst part of T1 for me, so I feel your frustration with frequent hypos and hypers. My recommendation would be to try to be easier on yourself (I know, easy to say) and concentrate on getting your basal right before working on your bolus.


I'd be very very surprised if you were getting any diabetic complications after less than a year of T1 and with hba1cs as low as yours. Don't assume that every symptom is related to diabetes. Ask your doctor if you are worried, it could be something as simple as a vitamin deficiciency.

Anyway, lots of virtual hugs. Things will improve.
Click to expand...


This has helped a lot. I have a lot of mental health problems which makes me fixate a lot. My team say my numbers need to stay below 13 which is why I get so angry and frustrated at myself when they’re above. I have a libre and they see my readings and up my insulin, then I end up with recurring hypos no matter what I eat for 24 hours. Then they decrease me back to my usual regimen and I stay above 10 for days at a time. Whenever I get a hba1c done I feel so defeated because I’ve followed plan and I still can’t control it. Even down to some days I barely eat anything but a cereal bar and a rice cake just to keep numbers down.

I will try to be less harsh on myself, I’ve suspected I’m anaemic for the past couple of months. But trying to get a GP appointment is so difficult. My gp offered to put me on iron without a blood test which I know can be dangerous if I’m not deficient. But I expect the stress of the pandemic is affecting go advice and treatment.
 
I agree totally with the replies given above. I have had this extremely annoying and unpredictable condition for 56 years and I think we all appreciate thst it can drive you crazy if you let it. We all have periods of greater or lesser control, but it's not all our own fault. So many things affect the action of our insulin - infection, other hormones, stress, other drugs like steroids etc etc. Don't blame yourself. In my experience, HCPs generally decide to blame the patient when they have run out of ideas themselves. Then we end up blaming ourselves, when we detect their evident diapproval. It's a vicious circle.

I agree that a single unit as a correction is probably more sensible from what you have told us. Perhaps pens that measure half units might help ? It would allow you to make finer adjustments, as what your team are doing at the moment, raising and then having to lower your insulin doses doesn't seem to be helping.
 
Chloelox said:
I just need somewhere to vent because I feel like I’m not being heard.

I had a pretty poor HBA1C last year, came in at 6.5 after having a year of being below 6, I managed to get it back down to 6.1, then it’s shot back up to 7 in the past couple of months.

I feel like I’m failing, I’m changing my insulin dosage so frequently that I just don’t know how to control it anymore. I’m completely out of control and starting to get tingling sensations often in my hands and feet as well as feeling up and down mood wise thanks to the rollercoaster blood sugars.

I’m at a complete loss because I’m not receiving much advice from my team, they keep telling me to inject an extra unit or 2 and increase basal but then I end up hypo, then I decrease and end up high for 24 hours..

I’m under a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety in my personal life and I feel like the out of control blood glucose is adding to it.

I don’t really know the purpose of this post, I guess I want to see if others have had similar experiences and can tell me that it will level out eventually.. or if I’m going to be like this forever I’m eating 80 carbs a day and currently taking 10 units basal and 5 units for meals with a correction dose of 2 units maybe 3/4 times a day to stay below 13..
Click to expand...

Hi,

Those numbers are not to be sniffed at.. I don't feel you should be hard on yerself with the result.

Put things in context, I got moaned at by a DSN 20 years ago for being 6.5.. (Back then the ideal was "7.5?)
She reckoned I was having "too many hypos."
No more than I normally did in the 8s & 9s..

It's appreciated that it isn't easy dealing with the consultants when they don't live the same dream on a daily basis. :)
 
We’ve all felt like this but your results don’t seem too bad! Keep at it.
 
6.5’s not just ‘not too bad’, it’s good. It’s very easy to get anxious and obsessive with T1 so I think we’ve all had our moments. It looks like you’re doing well though, and in time you’ll gradually get used to the way your own T1 behaves.
The rollercoasters, though, make life tough, and I doubt there are many of us who haven’t had times when bloods swoop up and down.
Now take a deep breath @Chloelox and stop worrying.
If you can do a basal test or two that might also help. It looks like you’ve been trying to run semi-blind and a basal test would show you how your body’s really reacting to an insulin dose so you’d be able, gradually, to adjust.

https://www.diabeteshub.com.au/info...-general-practice/type-1/basal-testing?living

It sometimes takes me a week or two of fine tuning to get doses right; I get some seasonal changes in insulin needs.
Are you using a pump or injecting?
Once the basal dose is right you can then look at the bolus, the faster acting insulin.
I find it helps to make very small adjustments to basal and allow three days for the adjustment to bed in before making any more changes.
With bolus doses I watch what happens for the active life of the insulin, my bolus is Fiasp, and only do a correction dose if bloods rise above 9.
Good luck, take time, don’t worry too much about the highs at the moment, try to get rid of the lows and you’ll slowly regain control. It takes a long period of running nasty highs to do yourself damage but lows can be very debilitating.
 
Yeah, I'd never change my Basal, personally, without confirming with Basal Testing (as much it's not a pleasant thing to do) cause some things can look like a Basal problem when it's not and vice versa.
 
Hi,

I’m very new to this having been diagnosed less than a couple of months ago. It’s sounds like you were doing great but you mention that you are under a lot of stress lately. Do you not think that that could be a significant factor contributing to your control? I know it’s much easier said than done (especially in the current climate) but addressing the causes of your stress might bring your control back to the level that you had previously achieved. I hope that you manage to get everything back on track soon. Please don’t consider yourself as failing - you are not.
 
OscarC said:
Hi,

I’m very new to this having been diagnosed less than a couple of months ago. It’s sounds like you were doing great but you mention that you are under a lot of stress lately. Do you not think that that could be a significant factor contributing to your control? I know it’s much easier said than done (especially in the current climate) but addressing the causes of your stress might bring your control back to the level that you had previously achieved. I hope that you manage to get everything back on track soon. Please don’t consider yourself as failing - you are not.
Click to expand...

What’s causing the stress isn’t a fixable problem unfortunately, then I’ve recently had a lot of issues added into the pot which I feel my blood pressure rise just thinking about. I’m hoping things will improve eventually but no end in sight at the moment. Thank you for your kind words
 
In my own experience of stress-related issues, I have found whilst Stress makes everything more difficult it isn't impossible to improve Diabetic Issues during them, and there's the added benefit of stabler levels actually helping with the stress. Blood Sugars both high and low take a toll on my emotions, so 'taking the edge off' can be a massive help.
 
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